Monday, 11 June 2007

Fine rubbish

What a wonderful post Nalda. It's very exciting to hear about the introduction of clay to the grass work.

What does it feel like? I imagine there's quite a contrast between the hard ceramics and the pliable fibre.

The story about the precious 'rubbish' hay is wonderful. If anything, the work that you are doing is a way for others to have a better material understanding of how the land operates, and so how the lamb chop appears on our plate every evening!

I've just posted a short notice about women who make ñanduti in Paraguay. There will be a longer piece in Craft Revival Trust soon. They are quite expert in the needle and it would be very interesting to see how they could adapt to the kind of materials that you are using.

One issue that must always dog your work is conservation. Fibre must have different qualities of durability. But I imagine that fodder is particularly ephemeral. Do you find this to be the case? Are there ways of making it last longer? Or alternatively, are there ways of making something out of its fragility?